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Japan Backing Device-Specific Search Tech To Compete With Google

Japan to fight Google search dominance from the Financial Times covers Japan’s continuing efforts to subsidize new generation search technologies tied to gadgets and hardware, in part to be competitive against US-based search companies like Google. From the report:

The Japanese project is comprised of 10 partnerships, each tasked with a specific next-generation search function. For example, the government has matched NTT Data with Toyota InfoTechnology Center and Toyota Mapmaster to create an interactive, personalised car navigation system. Other partnerships involve NEC, Hitachi and Sony Computer Science Laboratories. The ministry of trade has allocated Y14bn-Y15bn (€89m-€95m) to the project.

While the story is new, the project is not, having kicked off in December 2005.

The EU is also backing a German project named Theseus, with a $165 million grant. The French project, Quaero, broke off from Theseus, to go at it solo in December 2006.

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